Today, Famitsu posted the online version of their recent Three Houses articles. The content is pretty much the same, but there are more than twice the number of screenshots. I’m guessing Nintendo gave them a lot to choose from…

Like before, the article starts by briefly discussing the “War Phase” part of the game, 5 years later. As far as I can tell, this is the largest resolution we’ve seen of older Edelgard’s artwork (the other house leaders’ artwork can be found here). Hmm, the crest on Edelgard’s axe is indeed the same as Marianne’s…

Update: Actually, Nintendo re-uploaded super high res versions of the grown up house leaders’ artwork to their E3 press site. You can find them in our gallery. A big thanks to Michael for the heads up!

Moving on, they mention that the game flow is largely unchanged in this part of the game. There’s still a calendar and you still train your allies during weekdays and do whatever you want during weekends. There are some slight differences, like “instructing” is now called “training” (probably because they’re no longer students).

After this, we get a glimpse of some students during the War Phase. Now I don’t personally consider these spoilers since they come from official media, but I know some of you want to be surprised. So I’ve hidden the images inside links.

We saw this screenshot of Bernadetta before, but it was kinda small before. Anyway, she has strengths in Lance and Bow (and Heavy Armor, although you can’t see it here), but weaknesses in Sword, Axe and Fighting. Those strange face-like icons are statue bonuses.

This screenshot of Ashe is new. He has strengths in Axe and Bow, but a weakness in Reason. He also has a hidden talent in Lance. Oddly, there are no statue bonuses here. Did the player in this save file simply not activate them?

Well, well, Lorenz sure looks smarter. The bottom three options are all familiar ones: Gift, Lost Item and Invite to Tea. The top one is new: Advanced Training. Basically, it’s a flexible version of Faculty Training, where you can increase your skill levels from people with higher skill levels than you.

Besides the characters’ designs themselves, there’s nothing noteworthy about these screenshots–they show the same options as Lorenz’s.

Whew, I can breathe again! No more spoilers from here on, but plenty of bad guys, ahaha.

Here are clearer versions of Thales, Solon and Cronje, members of “the Nightcrawlers”. These three seem to act as a trio with Thales as the leader. Plus here’s the screenshot of Cronje, moments before she gets wrecked.

Correction: The Flame Emperor and Death Knight are not part of this group. Thanks to Druplesnubb for pointing this out.

Recently, we learned that you can recruit (or scout) students from other houses to join yours. After recruiting a student, they may join you during the War Phase. Anyway, we saw Leonie being scouted earlier, but now we know her requirements: Strength and Lance.

Additionally, Petra can be recruited as well. This transfer student from the Brigid Isles isn’t too fussy and wants you to have a high Dexterity stat and Riding skill level. Better not let her down then.

The next batch of screenshots are related to giving gifts. If the character enjoys the gift, you’ll gain support points and, if they’re in your house, increased motivation. By the way, looking at the options, it seems Marianne can be recruited. Do I hear people jumping for joy?

To make things easier for you, each gift has a hint in its description. In the case of the Bear Doll, it’s recommended for those who like animals or cute things. Marianne likes animals, so let’s give that a try, shall we?

The other gift options are: Tasty Baked Treats, Training Weights, Riding Shoes and Messenger Owl’s Feathers. Wait a second… first, we saw Feh’s lookalike on the bulletin boards and now this. Anyway, it seems everyone likes the Messenger Owl’s Feathers. So if you find some on the floor, be sure to scoop ’em up!

Oho, Annette can apparently be recruited as well! She seems to enjoy the Tasty Baked Treats, but not as much as Marianne liked the Bear Doll though. That said, the Bear Doll had a higher grade value (3 stars versus 1), so maybe that had an influence?

While wandering the monastery, you may come across blue sparkles on the floor. These may be items or even lost items that somebody dropped. If you can give the lost item to the correct person, like in Animal Crossing, you can earn their favour. It’s a bit easier here as the lost items have a description.

Last time, we saw the player return the Fine Arts Book to Ignatz the art lover. We can also see that Ignatz can be scouted to your house. Additionally, it seems Raphael has lost something too (a Wood Button)–and he too can be recruited. Now I’m starting to wonder who can’t be recruited (besides the house leaders)!

Who on earth dropped a pillow and who could be Rhea’s secret fan? I need to know these things!

Care for some tea? The next bunch of screenshots are all about the tea party mini-game. Firstly, you can invite characters during the weekend or when it’s their birthday. If done during the weekend, it costs 1 activity point. Also, above, Ingrid cannot be recruited, but I think she’s already in your house.

Before the tea party starts, you choose your tea leaves. You can’t well have a tea party without tea. It’s basic knowledge. Right? Available tea leaves include: Apple Tea, Eastern Incense Tea, Berry Tea, Mint Tea and Herbal Tea. The player is hovering over Mint Tea.

As the two of you start sipping your tea, you’ll naturally begin talking. Oh, nice weather, don’t you think? Hang on, you can do better than that. You’ll have the option to choose from three conversation topics, but don’t hesitate for long as you have 15 or so seconds to decide! The choices are: “Ideal way to get along”, “I want to know you better” and “How to safeguard the monastery”.

The player chooses the third option. Clearly, Ingrid is a serious gal and wants to talk about serious matters. It seems you’ll have to choose three topics during the tea part. Successfully pick the correct option 3 times and you’ll enjoy the “perfect tea time” (their words, not mine)!

If you enter perfect tea time, a free time session will occur. You can “gaze” at your partner, with the ability to move the camera. There will also be button prompts like X to “tease”. Also, you can give a gift, although I’m not quite sure what the difference is. Finally, you can end the session.

Of course, you can invite males as well. That said, I’m not 100% what the requirements to trigger a tea party are. At the very least, they don’t need to be in your house as you have the option to recruit Caspar here. Anyway, there’s a Y button prompt to try and make Caspar laugh. I’m actually kind of scared to try…

Here’s a better look at the statues of the four saints, found in the monastery’s cathedral. These are reward boxes where you can use Renown points to claim rewards like boosted skill level gain during instructing, additional Divine Pulse charges and whatnot. If you want the full list, please check our previous article (search for “Cichol”).

After redeeming a skill level boost, you’ll start to see statue icons when instructing. Above, the player is instructing Petra and there’s a Fighting +1 bonus from the Divine Indech statue. Also, I think this is the first time we’ve seen Petra’s skill levels. She’s good with Sword, Axe and Bow, but poor with Reason and Faith.

We saw this in Treehouse Live, but here’s another look at the choir practice that you can participate in while in the cathedral. Like sharing a meal, you pick two characters (can be students from other houses or even staff) to attend practice. Doing so will boost the characters’ support points, Faith skill levels and your Authority skill level.

Likewise, Treehouse Live covered the Advice Box, where you can answer anonymous letters. That said, it’s pretty obvious who the senders are–and you learn their identity after answering the letter anyway. Here are three examples from Mercedes, Ferdinand and Dimitri.

I’m a little older than the others, so I want to be a big sister that others can rely on… but it’s proving a little difficult~

The available answers are:

There’s no need to overdo it (seems to be the correct choice).

Try to be mindful about your everyday behaviour.

First, you need to choose the right words…

There are many who are disappointed in the current empire. There needs to be a new wind. How about we instate a new emperor?

The available answers are:

Edelgard’s a good choice.

I vote Ferdinand (seems to be the correct choice).

Let the empire rot away.

Ever since I was young, I had troubles with the heat… But we don’t know what environments we’ll have to fight in. Is there a better way for me to deal with the heat?

The available answers are:

Check the materials of your equipment (seems to be the correct choice).

You need to embrace the heat.

Beat it with cooling magic.

It’s time for some shopping! The Market is located towards the south-east of the monastery. There’s the armoury and vendor (where you can stock up on weapons and healing items etc.) as you’d expect, but a few more interesting shops as well.

Anna, the series mascot makes a re-appearance! After clearing certain quest(s), she’ll open up a secret shop in the market. Apparently you can buy rare items from her, but we don’t see what. Boo.

Also found in the market is the Smithy. Here, you can forge weapons to make them stronger (and give them cool/hilarious names). To forge weapons, you need to spend Smithing Stones and gold. You can get the former from merchants and by clearing weekly Group Tasks. It doesn’t seem like they’ll be in short supply.

In the first screenshot, the player is about to craft an Iron Lance+. This has 5 more uses, 1 more Might and 10 more Hit rate. It costs 6 Smithing Stones and 340 G. There appear to be 3 blanked out enhancement options. Does that mean you can craft an Iron Lance++ and so forth?

The second screenshot shows the player trying to enhance a Steel Lance. However, their Professor Level is too low–it needs to be D+ or higher. But we do see the cost to improve it: 10 Smithing Stones and 550 G. Also, there are only two enhancement options instead of four.

The third screenshot is an Iron Gauntlet+ about to be crafted. This has 10 more uses and 10 more Hit rate. Of note, its original and enhanced version both have 1 Might, which is pretty low. But don’t forget that all Gauntlets trigger consecutive attacks (during your own turn). Anyway, it costs 6 Smithing Stones and 290 G. There are three enhancement options this time.

One more thing you can do at the Smithy is repair weapons. You may know that Combat Arts expend additional weapon durability, so having a way to repair weapons is a godsend. Also, when a weapon reaches 0 uses, it no longer disappears, but enters a drastically weakened state.

The first screenshot shows an Iron Sword being repaired from 9 to 40 uses. It costs 2 Smithing Stones and 260 G. Apparently, the protagonist’s Sword of the Creator can be repaired too, but we’re not shown the cost. Drat. We do learn that it has an exclusive Combat Art: Ruptured Heaven (effective against Dragons), which we’ve already seen in action.

Speaking of Combat Arts, these are special techniques that characters can trigger during their own turn. You can learn them by improving your skill levels. Combat Arts are tied to weapon groups, so there are Sword Combat Arts, Lance ones, etc. Similarly, magic spells can be learned by improving one’s Reason and Faith skill levels.

Above, we see Dedue learn Helm Splitter upon reaching C in Axe. Likewise, Annette learns the Shaver magic spell upon reaching C in Reason. I believe “Shaver” is known as “Cutting Gale” in the English version.

Now for a quick look at four Combat Arts. These were already covered in the previous Famitsu article, so I won’t go over them in super detail.

Here’s Petra using Wrath Strike, the basic Sword Combat Art. This has slightly better Might and Hit Rate. Of note, Petra has an Armorslayer in her inventory.

Dedue shows off his fearsome Helm Splitter, an Axe Combat Art that’s effective against armoured foes. You can see that Dedue cleanly one-shots his foe. By the way, effective damage equates to double damage. But there’s apparently “super-effective” damage that inflicts triple. I’m not sure what that looks like though.

Next, Raphael uses Back Blow, a Gauntlet Combat Art that moves the user back one square after combat. Useful for hit and run tactics. Note that Combat Arts do not trigger follow up attacks and don’t trigger consecutive attacks either (although I imagine there might be some that do).

Lastly, here’s Ignatz showing off Curved Shot. This Bow Combat Art has increased Hit Rate, which is great if you need to guarantee a kill. Also, I believe it extends the maximum bow range by 1. If used as an Archer, with their innate Bowrange +1, you can use it to hit foes from up to 4 squares away!

We mentioned repairing the Sword of the Creator not too long ago. Besides paying, there’s another way to slowly repair it. During weekends, if you choose to rest, the Sword of the Creator will automatically gain 5 uses. This may mean foregoing weekend activities though. But if you’re lazy, it’s worth considering (plus resting boosts your students’ Motivation).

Finally, here’s another look at the first couple of Advanced classes. These are available once a character reaches Level 20 or higher.

Note: The weapons shown in the screenshots indicate proficient weapon types. Other weapons may be wielded, but skill level gain will be less. Gauntlets and magic are restricted to foot-based and magic-based classes respectively.

Hero (male-only)

A combat professional with superior strength and speed.

Fortress

A fortified soldier with overwhelming defence. In exchange for their low speed, they can protect allies with their high defence.

Paladin

Veteran knights with bundles of experience. Overall, they boast high Strength, Defence and Resistance. After combat, they can move again.

Grappler (male-only)

An expert who has mastered the art of fighting. They can topple foes with their rapid-firing punches.

Warlock

Those who have mastered black magic. They are strong even against foes with high defence.

Bishop

Those who have mastered white magic. They are capable of both attacking and healing.

After this, there are at least 5 more Advanced classes to cover. Looking at the available classes, they appear to be Swordmaster, Assassin, Wyvern Rider, Warrior and Sniper. Then it’s possible there’s another tier of classes above Advanced…

Are you sure it says that the Death Knight and Flame Emperor are part of the Nightcrawlers? I’m asking because in the map where you fight the Death Knight the enemies faction is listed as “Flame Emperor” rather than “Nightcrawlers”.

Aveyn Knight

Good question, although I was scared you read the whole thing already XD

Yeah, you’re right. They’re from a different group. Will fix that ASAP.

Druplesnubb

Does it explicitly say they’re from a different group or are they just not mentioned at all?

Aveyn Knight

Yeah, it says they’re separate from the Nightcrawlers. I kind of skim-read that part originally.

“Last time, we introduced the Flame Emperor and Death Knight, but we’ve discovered another mysterious force separate from them called the “Nightcrawlers!”

Big Klingy

The chance of those two being “secretly misunderstood good guys” is much higher now.

Kujja

GOOOD stuff guys thanks for sharing <3

BastienSoul

Petra has a Strength in Bows, not Fighting.

Aveyn Knight

Thanks, I should have zoomed in a bit more, haha.

Bcardia

“Okay, that was a really fun tea party, Ingrid. Now let me take out my magnifier and examine you very close for, uhhhhhh, scientific purposes!”

Miley Kliss

I’m curious what the “Mission Assistance” option is. Maybe you can use students in ur army temporarily before recruiting them fully?

Aveyn Knight

I have a feeling it might be that. Maybe they’ll talk about it next time.

Miley Kliss

I hope so. It’s strange we havent heard about it yet

NEMatt

Actually, the “Scout” option is greyed out when talking to Raphael, so it seems like that isn’t an option with him.

Aveyn Knight

I can sort of see it, but we know Raphael and Ignatz can be recruited from Treehouse Live. I think if the option was unavailable, the colour would be a lot more obvious (or the option would be completely absent).

Adako

Thanks for chronicling all of this information. Really liking everything about the game at this point *apart from* the absolutely baffling decision to make Hero male-only; extra strange since both Byleths have been shown as primarily progressing through the Mercenary class. One hopes the final selection of classes will make up for this shortfall on the female end in some way.

The new system of retaining durability but not actually losing the weapon sounds like a good balancing factor, so I look forward to seeing how the game plays with that in mind.

Bcardia

That system is actually from the SNES games. Kinda cool that they brought it back.

milkes

Thanks for sharing. These articles are what kept me going until release date.

Is there any information how many students you can poach from others houses? It would be funny if Byleth can steal them all.

Edelgard : Charge! Wait a minute, where’s everyone?

Alexios Blake

For every house there will only be certain students you can get not all furthermore because of the different conditions as well as the limited time you won’t be able to recruit many. Three or four I guess maybe even five.

Ruri “Kuroneko” Gokō

When was it ever officially mentioned that you can only recruite certain students? As far as I know, anyone but the house leaders is fair game.

Alexios Blake

It was mentioned in one of the previous articles that certain students besides the leaders can’t be recruited.

Vũ Hoàng Diệp Triệu

Kinda make sense. Some of the students have way too deep connection with the house leader, so making them betray their leaders wont be possible

Chris Andersen 151

You mentioned that Bernadetta has Strengths in Bows, Lances, and Heavy Armor, but Weaknesses in Swords, Axes, and Fighting. I don’t see the star symbols indicating a Hidden Talent, so does she not have any? Or did they already unlock it?

Aveyn Knight

I can’t check right now, but it could be in Riding or Flying. I don’t remember if they scrolled her list all the way down.

Chris Andersen 151

I think it is in Riding, because I remember when there was the video of the flying practice with Edelgard and Bernadetta, Bernadetta was average with Flying.

Chris Andersen 151

If I remember correctly, Bernadetta had a neutral level in Flying, as we saw her get a decent boost in it during a clip with her and Edelgard practicing Flying Training, so maybe her hidden talent is in Riding?

Volbeaha

Typically when a hidden talent is unlocked, that’s displayed by the three stars being filled in. So I’d say she doesn’t have any.

Sara Jaye

I LOVE Hilda’s design. And yay for Anna coming back, she was sorely missed in Echoes.

fritz freak

That moment when you understand everything in Japanese and you only come here to see what people think of the new stuff lol …

Rei1556

that dimitri’s question box, that’s some huge baggage he has, might even be a result of a traumatic event

Cyrellinate

Well, he IS from Faerghus, a canonically cold place

Rei1556

and he’s suggesting to instate a new emperor, and he’s the what was it prince of the faerghus kingdom? i haven’t read much medieval setting novels but wouldn’t that suggest going to war and supporting someone who has a right to the throne and instating that someone to replace the current ruling emperor?

Rei1556

or if that correct choice is to be believed then him usurping that throne?

Bepo Grubišić

You have it mixed up. That is Ferdinand’s box and he is most likely joking.

Rei1556

oh my bad then

Cyrellinate

That’s Ferdinand’s advice box. Dimitri’s about him not handling the heat

Izaak AZ

Wow, that Cronje holding the dagger screenshot is awful! I know her arm is supposed to be foreshortened, but her black gloves have no distinguishing features that would help show/portray that. The pose instead makes her arm look really short!

Thanks for the constant stream of information! Are you planning on including a section about what requirements students have for Byleth in order to be recruited away from their house? Or perhaps add that on to their character page. Like: to be recruited, so and so requires _____ and _____. Would be great to keep up with it all.

Alexis

What’s the point of making Hero and Dark Mage male-only? I also wish they made Pegasus Knight gender neutral again. These gender differences make no sense to me.

J42

Why does Empress Edelgard have high heels? How can you possibly swing an axe in those?

Vũ Hoàng Diệp Triệu

How can she even use an axe with her frail arms?? This is fantasy, dont ask question, lol.